Automatic Data Transfer Research Articles

New approaches to accounting petroleum and petroleum products in Ukraine

This paper analyzes the measures to increase the accuracy and reliability of accounting of petroleum and petroleum products in Ukraine on the basis of the mandatory equipment of excise petroleum products warehouses with level meter-counters and flow meter-counters.For this purpose, the excise warehouses for the petroleum and petroleum products are equipped with level meters-counters and flow meter-counters with the transfer of information in automatic mode to the State fiscal service of Ukraine. The phased procedure for the introduction of automatic data transfer from excise warehouses is envisaged. In this case, the level meter-counter means a level meter, which measures the level, temperature and density and calculates, according to the strapping table of the storage tank entered into the memory of the level meter, the volume of petroleum and petroleum product, reduced to a temperature of 15 °C.In accordance with current regulatory documents, the maximum permissible error of the level meter should be ± 2 mm for petroleum products and ± 3 mm for petroleum. The maximum permissible error for the flow meter-counter should be ± 0.25 %. At present, quite a lot of types of level meters are undergoing a conformity assessment with the technical regulations of legally regulated measuring instruments with the aim of using them as level meter-counters.The important question is the error with which the level meter-counter determines the volume of petroleum and petroleum products in the storage tank and the allowable discrepancy between the results of volume measurement using the level meter-counter and flow meter-counter. The corresponding formulas for calculating these quantities are given.Measurement methods and methods for calculating permissible imbalance need to be used.The stated approach of operational control of accounting should be applied to other energy resources — in particular, to control the caloric content of natural gas.

Automated Chicken Weighing System Using Wireless Sensor Network for Poultry Farmers

In recent years, in the quest for cost-effective operations, slower than expected chicken growth has become a big issue for the poultry farmers in Malaysia. To be profitable, the chickens need to reach 1.8kg in only 38 days from hatching. At present, the farmers manually check the weight of chickens twice a day, in the morning and evening, to monitor the growth rate of chickens. However, the workers in such farms do not weigh the chickens according to an established SOP, which in turn results in inaccurate growth-rate data obtained. This paper describes the development of an automated chicken weighing system using wireless sensor network (WSN) for poultry farmers to replace the manual approach. The weighing scales are equipped with wireless data transfer system to enable automatic data transfer to the Cloud using a Wi-Fi module. The data collected are then compared to the expected growth rates and used to monitor of the growth rate of chickens. The proposed growth rate monitoring system enables them the daily monitoring of the chicken development rate and enables the rectification of problems as soon as any discrepancies are detected. Problems such as insufficient or poor distribution of feed and the occurrence of disease can be rectified at an early stage.

Realized ecological forecast through an interactive Ecological Platform for Assimilating Data (EcoPAD, v1.0) into models

Abstract. Predicting future changes in ecosystem services is not only highly desirable but is also becoming feasible as several forces (e.g., available big data, developed data assimilation (DA) techniques, and advanced cyber-infrastructure) are converging to transform ecological research into quantitative forecasting. To realize ecological forecasting, we have developed an Ecological Platform for Assimilating Data (EcoPAD, v1.0) into models. EcoPAD (v1.0) is a web-based software system that automates data transfer and processing from sensor networks to ecological forecasting through data management, model simulation, data assimilation, forecasting, and visualization. It facilitates interactive data–model integration from which the model is recursively improved through updated data while data are systematically refined under the guidance of model. EcoPAD (v1.0) relies on data from observations, process-oriented models, DA techniques, and the web-based workflow. We applied EcoPAD (v1.0) to the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental change (SPRUCE) experiment in northern Minnesota. The EcoPAD-SPRUCE realizes fully automated data transfer, feeds meteorological data to drive model simulations, assimilates both manually measured and automated sensor data into the Terrestrial ECOsystem (TECO) model, and recursively forecasts the responses of various biophysical and biogeochemical processes to five temperature and two CO2 treatments in near-real time (weekly). Forecasting with EcoPAD-SPRUCE has revealed that mismatches in forecasting carbon pool dynamics are more related to model (e.g., model structure, parameter, and initial value) than forcing variables, opposite to forecasting flux variables. EcoPAD-SPRUCE quantified acclimations of methane production in response to warming treatments through shifted posterior distributions of the CH4:CO2 ratio and the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of methane production towards lower values. Different case studies indicated that realistic forecasting of carbon dynamics relies on appropriate model structure, correct parameterization, and accurate external forcing. Moreover, EcoPAD-SPRUCE stimulated active feedbacks between experimenters and modelers to identify model components to be improved and additional measurements to be taken. It has become an interactive model–experiment (ModEx) system and opens a novel avenue for interactive dialogue between modelers and experimenters. Altogether, EcoPAD (v1.0) acts to integrate multiple sources of information and knowledge to best inform ecological forecasting.

Raspberry Pi-Based Low-Cost Connected Device for Assessing Road Surface Friction

Measuring friction between the tyres of a vehicle and the road, often and on as many locations on the road network as possible, can be a valuable tool for ensuring traffic safety. Rather than by using specialised equipment for sequential measurements, this can be achieved by using several low-cost measuring devices on vehicles that travel on the road network as part of their daily assignments. The presented work proves the hypothesis that a low cost measuring device can be built and can provide measurement results comparable to those obtained from expensive specialised measuring devices. As a proof of concept, two copies of a prototype device, based on the Raspberry Pi single-board computer, have been developed, built and tested. They use accelerometers to measure vehicle braking deceleration and include a global positioning receiver for obtaining the geolocation of each test. They run custom-developed data acquisition software on the Linux operating system and provide automatic measurement data transfer to a server. The operation is controlled by an intuitive user interface consisting of two illuminated physical pushbuttons. The results show that for braking tests and friction coefficient measurements the developed prototypes compare favourably to a widely used professional vehicle performance computer.

Nationwide Children's Hospital BMT Smart Forms

Background Integration of patient information across medical institutions remains a major challenge in American healthcare. In particular, meaningful data compilation, extraction and analysis are impeded by separate information technology systems, thereby limiting collaborative efforts addressing translational and patient-centered outcomes research. Furthermore, incorporating predictive models to ensure favorable patient outcomes are critically needed, especially for high-complexity, high-resource utilizing patient populations like blood and marrow transplant (BMT) recipients. To this end, the Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) BMT Smart Forms were created with the ultimate goal of developing an analytics-integrated, EMR (electronic medical record)-based smart form for BMT and cell therapy patients, which would have the potential to improve patient outcomes by assimilating clinical data across transplant and cell therapy centers. Smart Form Design and Functionality Originally created in 2013 at Nationwide Children's Hospital, the pre- and post-BMT Smart Forms (SFs) were designed by a collaborative team including members of the BMT Program, Information Services and Technology, Electronic Data Warehouse, and Research Information Solutions and Innovation (RISI). Specifically, the BMT SFs were designed using the Epic® platform to enable clinical and quality reporting and research data capture (Figure 1). In this regard, the SFs contain minimal free text fields to minimize data entry error and standard data elements (SDEs), which facilitate data mapping and routing. Once completed, the SFs can be transformed into clinical documentation for clinical management purposes. By design and through a data visualization platform (QlikView®), the BMT SFs also facilitate internal and external data reporting for transplant- and cell therapy-related agencies including the CIBMTR (Center of International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research), FACT (Federation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy), and NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program). Clinical data entered into the BMT SFs route into a database with the capability for automated data transfer from within and outside NCH, thereby creating the potential for a combined, multi-institutional database through which data can be easily queried (Figure 2). Lastly, the database enables predictive analytic modeling for common transplant-related metrics (e.g., engraftment) and complications (e.g., infection). Reiterations of the BMT SFs have occurred over time, reflecting new technologies and approaches to transplant care as well as future steps for on-boarding additional transplant centers.

An aerothermodynamic design optimization framework for hypersonic vehicles

In the aviation field great interest is growing in passengers transportation at hypersonic speed. This requires, however, careful study of the enabling technologies necessary for the optimal design of hypersonic vehicles. In this framework, the present work reports on a highly integrated design environment that has been developed in order to provide an optimization loop for vehicle aerothermodynamic design. It includes modules for geometrical parametrization, automated data transfer between tools, automated execution of computational analysis codes, and design optimization methods. This optimization environment is exploited for the aerodynamic design of an unmanned hypersonic cruiser flying at M∞=8 and 30 km altitude. The original contribution of this work is mainly found in the capability of the developed optimization environment of working simultaneously on shape and topology of the aircraft. The results reported and discussed highlight interesting design capabilities, and promise extension to more challenging and realistic integrated aerothermodynamic design problems.

Telemonitoring in subjects with newly diagnosed heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: From clinical research to everyday practice

Introduction Heart failure is increasingly common, and characterised by frequent admissions to hospital. To try and reduce the risk of hospitalisation, techniques such as telemonitoring (TM) may have a role. We wanted to determine if TM in patients with newly diagnosed heart failure and ejection fraction <40% reduces the risk of readmission or death from any cause in a ‘real-world’ setting. Methods This is a retrospective study of 124 patients (78.2% male; 68.6 ± 12.6 years) who underwent TM and 345 patients (68.5% male; 70.2 ± 10.7 years) who underwent the usual care (UC). The TM group were assessed daily by body weight, blood pressure and heart rate using electronic devices with automatic transfer of data to an online database. Follow-up was 12 months. Results Death from any cause occurred in 8.1% of the TM group and 19% of the UC group (p = 0.002). There was no difference between the two groups in all-cause hospitalisation, either in the number of subjects hospitalised (p = 0.7) or in the number of admissions per patient (p = 0.6). There was no difference in the number of heart-failure-related readmissions per person between the two groups (p = 0.5), but the number of days in hospital per person was higher in the UC group (p = 0.03). Also, there were a significantly greater number of days alive and out of hospital for the patients in the TM group compared with the UC group (p = 0.0001). Discussion TM is associated with lower any-cause mortality and also has the potential to reduce the number of days lost to hospitalisation and death.

Technology Experience of Solid Organ Transplant Patients and Their Overall Willingness to Use Interactive Health Technology.

The use of interactive health technology (IHT) is a promising pathway to tackle self-management problems experienced by many chronically ill patients, including solid organ transplant (Tx) patients. Yet, to ensure that the IHT is accepted and used, a human-centered design process is needed, actively involving end users in all steps of the development process. A first critical, predevelopment step involves understanding end users' characteristics. This study therefore aims to (a) select an IHT platform to deliver a self-management support intervention most closely related to Tx patients' current use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), (b) understand Tx patients' overall willingness to use IHT for self-management support, and investigate associations with relevant technology acceptance variables, and (c) explore Tx patients' views on potential IHT features. We performed a cross-sectional, descriptive study between October and December 2013, enrolling a convenience sample of adult heart, lung, liver, and kidney Tx patients from the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. Broad inclusion criteria were applied to ensure a representative patient sample. We used a 35-item newly designed interview questionnaire to measure Tx patients' use of ICTs, their overall willingness to use IHT, and their views on potential IHT features, as well as relevant technology acceptance variables derived from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and a literature review. Descriptive statistics were used as appropriate, and an ordinal logistic regression model was built to determine the association between Tx patients' overall willingness to use IHT, the selected technology acceptance variables, and patient characteristics. Out of 139 patients, 122 agreed to participate (32 heart, 30 lung, 30 liver, and 30 kidney Tx patients; participation rate: 88%). Most patients were male (57.4%), married or living together (68%), and had a mean age of 55.9 ± 13.4 years. Only 27.9% of Tx patients possessed a smartphone, yet 72.1% owned at least one desktop or laptop PC with wireless Internet at home. On a 10-point numeric scale, asking patients whether they think IHT development is important to support them personally in their self-management, patients gave a median score of 7 (25th percentile 5 points; 75th percentile 10 points). Patients who were single or married or living together were more likely to give a higher rating than divorced or widowed patients; patients who completed only secondary education gave a higher rating than higher educated patients; and patients with prior ICT use gave a higher rating than patients without prior ICT use. Tx patients also had clear preferences regarding IHT features, such as automatic data transfer, as much as possible, visual aids (e.g., graphs) over text messages, and personally deciding when to access the IHT. By investigating Tx patients' possession and use of ICTs, we learned that computers and the Internet, and not smartphones, are the most suitable IHT platforms to deliver self-management interventions for our Tx patients. Moreover, Tx patients generally are open to using IHT, yet patient acceptance variables and their preferences for certain IHT features should be taken into account in the next steps of IHT development. Designers intending to develop or use existing IHTs should never overlook this critical first step in a human-centered design. Before considering using eHealth technology in clinical practice, professionals should always check whether patients are familiar with using information and communication technology, and whether they are willing to use technology for health-related purposes.

Automated calibration of a two-dimensional overland flow model by estimating Manning's roughness coefficient using genetic algorithm

Abstract Calibration is an important phase in the hydrological modelling process. In this study, an automated calibration framework is developed for estimating Manning's roughness coefficient. The calibration process is formulated as an optimization problem and solved using a genetic algorithm (GA). A heuristic search procedure using GA is developed by including runoff simulation process and evaluating the fitness function by comparing the experimental results. The model is calibrated and validated using datasets of Watershed Experimentation System. A loosely coupled architecture is followed with an interface program to enable automatic data transfer between overland flow model and GA. Single objective GA optimization with minimizing percentage bias, root mean square error and maximizing Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency is integrated with the model scheme. Trade-offs are observed between the different objectives and no single set of the parameter is able to optimize all objectives simultaneously. Hence, multi-objective GA using pooled and balanced aggregated function statistic are used along with the model. The results indicate that the solutions on the Pareto-front are equally good with respect to one objective, but may not be suitable regarding other objectives. The present technique can be applied to calibrate the hydrological model parameters.

Prescribing of Electronic Activity Monitors in Cardiometabolic Diseases: Qualitative Interview-Based Study.

BackgroundThe prevalence of noncommunicable diseases, including those such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, so-called cardiometabolic diseases, is high and is increasing worldwide. Strong evidence supports the role of physical activity in management of these diseases. There is general consensus that mHealth technology, including electronic activity monitors, can potentially increase physical activity in patients, but their use in clinical settings remains limited. Practitioners’ requirements when prescribing electronic activity monitors have been poorly described.ObjectiveThe aims of this qualitative study were (1) to explore how specialist physicians prescribe electronic activity monitors to patients presenting with cardiometabolic conditions, and (2) to better understand their motivation for and barriers to prescribing such monitors.MethodsWe conducted qualitative semistructured interviews in March to May 2016 with 11 senior physicians from a public university hospital in France with expertise in management of cardiometabolic diseases (type 1 and type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia). Interviews lasted 45 to 60 minutes and were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using directed content analysis. We report our findings following the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist.ResultsMost physicians we interviewed had never prescribed electronic activity monitors, whereas they frequently prescribed blood glucose or blood pressure self-monitoring devices. Reasons for nonprescription included lack of interest in the data collected, lack of evidence for data accuracy, concern about work overload possibly resulting from automatic data transfer, and risk of patients becoming addicted to data. Physicians expected future marketing of easy-to-use monitors that will accurately measure physical activity duration and intensity and provide understandable motivating feedback.ConclusionsFeatures of electronic activity monitors, although popular among the general public, do not meet the needs of physicians. In-depth understanding of physicians’ expectations is a first step toward designing technologies that can be widely used in clinical settings and facilitate physical activity prescription. Physicians should have a role, along with key health care stakeholders—patients, researchers, information technology firms, the public, and private payers—in developing the most effective methods for integrating activity monitors into patient care.

Interoperability, Attribution, and Value in the Web of Natural History Museum Data

Collections, aggregators, collaborative digitization projects, publishers, researchers, and external users are actors in a complex web of biological specimen data interactions, workflows, and pipelines. The software that mediates interactions among these diverse players enables the creation and delivery of species occurrence data from specimens to a growing set of research data consumers. Informaticists have made great strides in developing the individual services, standards and functions; researchers can now almost effortlessly discover and access massive amounts of museum data to address important, integrative science questions. We need to continue to refine individual tools and capabilities that are part of collection data pipelines, and more emphasis is needed on better integration to ensure the automatic transfer of data--enabling museum data pipelines to work with little or no manual intervention. Also, in order for community systems to benefit all parties, specimen data resources not only need to be efficiently aggregated downstream, but 'value adds' need to flow in the reverse direction--upstream to collections, for their benefit, to recognize their role and facilitate their sustainability. There are valuable, un-realized benefits that collections could be accruing from their participation in aggregation architectures and from the subsequent use of their data by researchers. The Biodiversity Collections Network, a US NSF-funded Research Coordination Network project is planning a series of workshops in collaboration with other collections community groups to identify gaps and one-way traps in the collections data pipeline. The meetings will explore pathways for more effective integration and value distribution in the chain that connects collections, aggregators and data consumers. This talk will highlight relevant examples and outline BCoN’s vision in this area.

Privacy conscious architecture for personal information transfer from a personal trusted device to an HTTP based service

Modern services request personal information from their customers. The personal information is not needed onlyfor identifying the customer but also for customising the service for each customer. In this paper we first analyse the existing approaches for personal information handling and point out their weaknesses. We desribe an architecture for the delivery of personal information from the customer to the HTTP based service in the Internet. For personal information storing our architecture relies on a mobile device, such as a customer’s mobile phone. The access of the service is conducted with a traditional desktop computer. The information is transmitted to the serviceon request via a desktop computer that fetches the information from a mobile device over a wireless link.The goal of our approach is to simplify the use of servicesby helping the customer to provide the required personal information. Furthermore our approach is designed so that existing services require only minor changes. We introduce methods for the customer to control his own privacy by providing notation to define the required security measures for automated data transfer. Finally we discuss the possible security risks of our architecture.

Critical Congenital Heart Disease Newborn Screening Implementation: Lessons Learned

Introduction The purpose of this article is to present the collective experiences of six federally-funded critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) newborn screening implementation projects to assist federal and state policy makers and public health to implement CCHD screening. Methods A qualitative assessment and summary from six demonstration project grantees and other state representatives involved in the implementation of CCHD screening programs are presented in the following areas: legislation, provider and family education, screening algorithms and interpretation, data collection and quality improvement, telemedicine, home and rural births, and neonatal intensive care unit populations. Results The most common challenges to implementation include: lack of uniform legislative and statutory mandates for screening programs, lack of funding/resources, difficulty in screening algorithm interpretation, limited availability of pediatric echocardiography, and integrating data collection and reporting with existing newborn screening systems. Identified solutions include: programs should consider integrating third party insurers and other partners early in the legislative/statutory process; development of visual tools and language modification to assist in the interpretation of algorithms, training programs for adult sonographers to perform neonatal echocardiography, building upon existing newborn screening systems, and using automated data transfer mechanisms. Discussion Continued and expanded surveillance, research, prevention and education efforts are needed to inform screening programs, with an aim to reduce morbidity, mortality and other adverse consequences for individuals and families affected by CCHD.

Institute of taxation and its contribution to economic structure development (Russian practice)

Improving the quality of operations and controllability of the Federal Tax Service’ (hereinafter – FTS) system is very relevant today. The solution of this problem is complicated by the total amount of regions and their large geographical area, as well as the distances between major cities. One of the necessary tools to increase its efficiency is the creation of a new model, which includes automated data transfer system in the data processing centers (hereinafter – DPC). The composition of the function includes: receiving, registering and digitizing (scanning) of paper-based documents; Massive data input from e-based/paper-based to FTS database; mass printing and mailing tax notifications; archiving paper-based documents. The cost effect is achieved thanks to the elimination of non-core functions, diminution of staff due to centralization, reduction of equipment. The result is saving a share of the national budget.

Evaluation criteria and models of information systems with the property of behavior

The paper focuses on the creation of enterprise management information systems with the property of behavior. Behavior of information system is considered from the standpoint of its functions targeted expansion; the need for them arises from the variability of the external and internal environment. To create a system with behavior, integrated information systems are encouraged to be used constructed from highly specialized, low functional applications. Classification criteria of information systems with behavior are proposed by a set of functions, by options of control transfer to the application, by the integration level of information system components. Classification is revealed by integration levels of information system components. Within the classification four options for structural models of information systems are suggested. The first option is based on the integration of message brokers with achieving of automatic data transfer and the launch of the relevant applications. The second option is based on an integrated database that enables applications to operate in accordance with established regulations. The third version of the integration is carried out on the level of services and gives the possibility to build structures with preliminary uncertain configuration of intern applications for the actual problem solution. The fourth option is based on integration level of the interpretation of metadata for distributed database systems and applications that interact with these databases. The system behavior comes into existence in case of new application automatically exchanges input and output data with the other components of information system and has the possibility of flexible parameter setting of functions interaction.

Reporting systems in gastrointestinal endoscopy: Requirements and standards facilitating quality improvement: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy position statement.

To develop standards for high quality of gastrointestinal endoscopy, the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) has established the ESGE Quality Improvement Committee. A prerequisite for quality assurance and improvement for all gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures is state-of-the-art integrated digital reporting systems for standardized documentation of the procedures. The current paper describes the ESGE's viewpoints on requirements for high-quality endoscopy reporting systems. The following recommendations are issued: Endoscopy reporting systems must be electronic.Endoscopy reporting systems should be integrated into hospital patient record systems.Endoscopy reporting systems should include patient identifiers to facilitate data linkage to other data sources.Endoscopy reporting systems shall restrict the use of free text entry to a minimum, and be based mainly on structured data entry.Separate entry of data for quality or research purposes is discouraged. Automatic data transfer for quality and research purposes must be facilitated.Double entry of data by the endoscopist or associate personnel is discouraged. Available data from outside sources (administrative or medical) must be made available automatically.Endoscopy reporting systems shall enable the inclusion of information on histopathology of detected lesions; patient's satisfaction; adverse events; surveillance recommendations.Endoscopy reporting systems must facilitate easy data retrieval at any time in a universally compatible format.Endoscopy reporting systems must include data fields for key performance indicators as defined by quality improvement committees.Endoscopy reporting systems must facilitate changes in indicators and data entry fields as required by professional organizations.

Requirements and standards facilitating quality improvement for reporting systems in gastrointestinal endoscopy: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Position Statement.

To develop standards for high quality in gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy, the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) has established the ESGE Quality Improvement Committee. A prerequisite for quality assurance and improvement for all GI endoscopy procedures is state-of-the-art integrated digital reporting systems for standardized documentation of the procedures. The current paper describes the ESGE's viewpoints on the requirements for high-quality endoscopy reporting systems in GI endoscopy. Recommendations 1 Endoscopy reporting systems must be electronic. 2 Endoscopy reporting systems should be integrated into hospitals' patient record systems. 3 Endoscopy reporting systems should include patient identifiers to facilitate data linkage to other data sources. 4 Endoscopy reporting systems shall restrict the use of free-text entry to a minimum, and be based mainly on structured data entry. 5 Separate entry of data for quality or research purposes is discouraged. Automatic data transfer for quality and research purposes must be facilitated. 6 Double entry of data by the endoscopist or associate personnel is discouraged. Available data from outside sources (administrative or medical) must be made available automatically. 7 Endoscopy reporting systems shall facilitate the inclusion of information on histopathology of detected lesions, patient satisfaction, adverse events, and surveillance recommendations. 8 Endoscopy reporting systems must facilitate easy data retrieval at any time in a universally compatible format. 9 Endoscopy reporting systems must include data fields for key performance indicators as defined by quality improvement committees. 10 Endoscopy reporting systems must facilitate changes in indicators and data entry fields as required by professional organizations.

Automatic Exchange of Tax Information in the European Union – The Standard for the Future

This article analyses various perspectives regarding the future European standard for automatic exchange of tax information. It presents the legal framework for such information exchange within the European Union and discusses the influence of the US FATCA on the EU legal environment. Finally, it questions whether or not the international tax information exchange system, based on automatic transfer of data, can work effectively and whether the obstacles caused by differences amongst Member States can be overcome.

Cost analysis of telemedicine monitoring of patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in the Czech Republic

IntroductionTelemonitoring of patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) is, in general, considered safer, more efficious, and increasingly cost-effective. The aim of our work was to assess the long-term economic benefit associated with telemetric monitoring of patients with newly implanted ICD using the Home Monitoring™ (HM) system compared to standard outpatient care in the Czech Republic. MethodsPatients were randomized to telemetric monitoring using the HM system with daily automated data transfer and outpatient follow-up at 12-month intervals (HM+) or standard outpatient follow-up (HM−). Average total costs per patient and months of follow-up were estimated based on invoices from health insurance companies, direct costs to patients, and the operating costs of the HM system. ResultsIn total, 198 patients were followed for 37.4±15.2 months. The number of planned outpatient visits was reduced by 48% during the follow-up period in the HM+ group (p<0.001). Significantly shorter hospital stays were also observed in the HM+ group. Data concerning costs were obtained in 75% of patients. Higher costs for outpatient care (223±99CZK vs. 189±93CZK, p=0.039) and medical transport services (640±314CZK vs. 367±187CZK, p=0.003) were found in the HM− group. When taking into account the operating costs of the HM system in addition to the costs for outpatient care and transport, the difference between groups was not significant; however, when the reimbursement of telemetric monitoring and costs for the patient unit were also reflected in the calculations, the average cost in the HM+ group was higher (541±188CZK vs. 401±332CZK, p=0.002). Cost-neutrality could be obtained if all patients were transported free of charge to their outpatient visits. ConclusionIn the Czech Republic, the HM system has been cost-effective for health insurance companies in patients with single- or dual-chamber ICDs. When calculating using the reimbursement from payers of the healthcare, the HM system would remain cost-neutral only if most patients had reimbursed transportation costs. The clinical effect of telemetric monitoring is directly related to the continuity of follow-up and the possibility to detect events very early and to intervene accordingly; we thus believe that the HM system should be automatically paid for in all patients with an implantable ICD. The related increase in costs would be insignificant in the context of the entire healthcare budget.

THE FUTURE OF AUTOMATIC TAX INFORMATION EXCHANGE IN EU COUNTRIES

Tackling the issue of tax revenue losses starts to be the highest priority for developed countries. In the attempts to protect the national tax bases and to fight harmful tax competition, the whole world starts to give the extra weight to the principles of fiscal transparency and information exchange, addressing them on international agendas. Also the European governments are seeking to recover their missing billions of taxes. The article focuses on the main issues connected with transparency and exchange of tax information. It brings closer the internationally agreed standard of exchange of information for tax purposes and shortly presents the modes of tax information exchange. Next the study turns to the European Union’s perspective. It analyzes the legal framework of automatic tax information exchange within the EU and presents the influence of the U.S. FATCA on the EU legal environment. It also tries to answer the question whether creating the international tax information exchange system, based on automatic transfer of data, could be possible in the future.